Contribution of travel and tourism to GDP

As seen from Figures 1 and 2, during the pandemic, tourism’s contribution to employment and GDP has reduced considerably. In Italy, for example, tourism’s contribution to GDP halved in 2020 (compared with 2019) from 13.1 % to 7 %, and 337 000 jobs were lost. Compared with the United States, several EU Member States (e.g. Germany, Italy and France) saw a bigger loss in terms of GDP but suffered less in terms of employment.
According to data from the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) international tourist arrivals in the world dropped by 83 % in the first quarter of 2021 (compared with the same period in 2019). Even in 2020, the drop in international tourist arrivals in the world was not as sharp (-73 %). Asia and the Pacific recorded the largest declines ( 94 % in the first quarter of 2021), followed by Europe ( 83 %), Africa ( 81 %), the Middle East ( 78 %) and the Americas ( 71 %). International tourism receipts in 2020 were down by about 64 % in real terms (local currencies, constant prices) and internal visitors spent about one third of the sums spent in 2019.